Eiger BioPharmaceuticals announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to lonafarnib for the treatment of Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS or progeria) and progeroid laminopathies.

There is currently no approved treatment for progeria, an ultra-rare and rapidly fatal genetic condition that causes accelerated aging in children. Lonafarnib, a first-in-class prenylation inhibitor, works by inhibiting the farnesyltransferase enzyme that is involved in protein modification; it blocks the farnesylation of the progerin protein.